Thread: Serious speed issues!

Hey all - I'm having serious issues trying to download just about any torrent. While I regularly see download speeds of other files over wifi in the range of 200kB/s and up, I'm watching torrents trickle in near 0.5kB/s. I've tried setting up port forwarding, several different ports, different clients, different trackers, and I can't figure it out. Any ideas?

I can't really offer you any specific advice since you didn't provide much detail about your setup e.g. which ports you forwarded, which clients + trackers you are talking about, a speed test, client settings and so forth.

Without that information, I can only guess that your torrent client is poorly configured. You client needs to be 'connectible' which means that your firewall is not blocking two way communication. Also try setting encryption to 'forced' , change the default client ports to something else and limit your upload speed, so that your upload doesn't saturate your connection.

post here a speed test please.

Yes, a speed test would be useful. That way it will show if its your connection in general or just on torrents... plus like previously mentioned it would be good to post more info like:

- Torrent Client that you use(d) which have this problem
- Trackers which you are experiencing problems on
- Ports that have been forwarded
- How long has this problem existed? Has it only just started or been constant?

- Torrent Client that you use(d) which have this problem
Vuze, Transmission (on ubuntu) and uTorrent (on windows)

- Trackers which you are experiencing problems on
thepiratebay.org
and
openbittorrent.com - I haven't tested any others

- Ports that have been forwarded
at the moment 58368, tried a few others at random

- How long has this problem existed? Has it only just started or been constant?
it's always been a problem on one particular connection (through RCN). I'm on a different connection at the moment so I can't post any speed tests from the problem hookup for you. I'm running the same clients from the same box through a different isp / router with no ports forwarded and getting 500 kB/s.

My only guess is that the isp is throttling, but I do have encryption forced on. In addition, RCN is listed as a 'good' isp and I ran a speed test comparing results designed to tell me if my isp was shaping traffic and the result was allegedly "no"....

Thanks for the additional information. It's a starting point, but you should realize that for someone to effectively help you troubleshoot this, they need all of the relevant details. Without them, they can only guess and poke a stick at you.

So client - stick to one client for the moment, client version, OS, speed test, client settings e.g. bandwidth, upload slots, encryption, port + router port forward settings, please.

You said same clients, same box, same trackers works fine (with a different router/ISP)
You also said that your ISP is not known to throttle, that a speed test ostensibly showed no traffic shaping and you have encryption set to forced.

On that basis, throttling is the least likely culprit. The obvious difference is the router/ISP. And since the evidence doesn't seem to implicate the ISP and throttling to 0.5 KB/s would be rather extreme.. that leaves the router configuration as the first place to look.

So your starting point is to ensure that you are connectible. That means two way communication between your torrent client and a tracker. You need to ensure that the router is correctly forwarding the ports. Have a look at this guide on 'being connectible' and do the port tests, etc and then come back & tell us what you tried and the results. Also if you are a member of a private tracker does your profile page say that you are connectible?

.

Check out this link:

Glasnost: Test if your ISP is shaping your traffic

That's the best way to see if you're being throttled.

Thank you for the tips - glasnost was the test that I ran yesterday, and it didn't indicate shaping.

Just as a heads up for this thread, I'll be away from the connection in question until tomorrow night. I'll work through the "connectable" guide and post an update as soon as I have more information.

Thanks for the help.

At the moment all of my money is on the router as well so be sure to check Coppers post out. There's not any time limit as this thread is to help you not us :P